Home Movie Flooding in Shanghai, China Refugee Camp Aerial Footage (1946)
1946 · Short film · 15 min
Synopsis
This home movie shows a trip to Asia in 1946. It is part of a group of 16mm movies shot by an unknown American who was working for the OMEA, or Officer's Moral Endeavor Association, a sort of non-governmental, YMCA type group operating in post-WWII China. The group was probably a Catholic organization, and possibly the person filming this was a member of the clergy as many churches are shown in the film. It's unclear where this footage was shot -- but the first section is in Shanghai which suffered record flooding in 1946. There's also footage that appears to have been shot in rural areas outside the city.0:08 Rickshaws in the street0:16 Flooded street. Flooding from rainwater and the Yellow River was very common in Shanghai before the installation of the rainwater sewers in mid-1980s. The period from 1937-1946 was historically some of the worst.0:44 Kwang Hua University Gate, Shanghai, Kwang Hua was a former university, created by the alumni of Saint John's Anglican College and then University (closed in 1952) in China, in 1925. In October 1951 Kwang Hua university and Daxia University were merged to form East China Normal University1:00 Bombed-out Jiangwan Stadium in Pudong district, the collapsed hangar-like roof of the Jiangwan Swimming pool is visible to the side of it (possibly mirrored footage) 1:44 Someone digging a hole by the side of a footpath1:50 irrigation canals in a pristinely rural Pudong district2:05 A 5-level pagoda2:19 A child runs after their mother,…
Uploader's description on archive.org
Details
- Running time
- 15 minutes
- Collection
- Ephemeral Films
Subjects on the Internet Archive
- Jiangwan Swimming
- Moral Endeavor Association
- Yellow River
- Kwang Hua University Gate
- Kwang Hua
- Saint John
- Anglican College
- Daxia University
- East China Normal University
- Jiangwan Stadium